Wisdom – Brenna Vancheyson

Microstory: The old house was filled with things that reminded them of themselves, of each other...even if these things were just in the background.}

We’re living in a time when retro and nostalgia are in style more than any other past era. So what things do we tend to remember? We obviously remember the big things…the big events, things that changed our lives, the milestones.

But there are also things in our minds that are hidden — things that are not linked to any big milestone, but when we see them in a photo or suddenly hear them mentioned, we get a more vivid recollection of the feelings of a particular time in the past than the polished memories of the big events always at the front of our minds.

How is it that these little things in the background sometimes live so strongly in our heads? They didn’t seem “important” at the time — but they were powerful enough to sometimes spark a stronger reaction than memories of an entire big event.

There is a saying by Cesare Pavese, saying, “We don’t remember days — we remember moments.” Maybe those little things remind us of the moments.

Related to the prompt “Retrospective.“

{More nostalgia posts and flash fiction}

Microstory: "But my name really is Karen," she thought.

How would we like it if our names were suddenly used as an insult? A better label for the tirading, self-entitled “ranters without a reason” would be “idiots” or “buttheads” — not a fairly popular name that’s donned on people at their birth.

The question “what’s in a name?” shouldn’t have a negative connotation — especially for such a common name as Karen.

Before going any further, a couple of disclaimers:

1. Although I write under a pen name, no, my real name is not Karen (and neither is anyone’s in my family).

2. I do not at all condone these ranters’ behaviors — in fact, I have had the unfortunate experience of being approached by one of them. Apparently, she believed that someone walking through a senior complex who wasn’t “of age” (as she put it) must have been doing something wrong (though people bring their parents things or come to visit all the time). I was detained by this ranter for probably 20 minutes. And this person wasn’t at a stage where it was dementia, either — it was ranting, plain and simple.

But I digress.

I truly hate this topic — but at the same time, in an era when we’re trying to be more aware of our actions, it doesn’t make any sense to use an actual common given birth name as an insult.

We need to be more careful about the labels we use.

And as the simple, yet kind, Forest Gump once said…
“That’s all I have to say about that.”

Microstory: "But my name really is Karen," she thought.

Category: Wisdom

Remembering Through an Old House

What’s in a Name: Let’s Call Ranters Something Other Than “Karen”